Top 5 Time Management Tools to Meet Your Deadlines!

We know web designing and development can be hard work. We know what makes it a challenge is not just the nature of the work but the tight deadlines and client expectations. Managing multiple projects within the given time can increase your stress and affects the productivity of the team. Planning your time is an effective way of meeting deadlines.

Planning is not just important for you to meet deadlines but important for clients who pay you by the hour. A time tracker can enable you to turn over a timesheet, making you look professional & increasing your chances of working with you again in the future.

To make time management simpler, there are a bunch of tools available online. We’ve sieved through the 40 odd ones to give you the top 5!

1) Toggl: This could possibly be one of the best free time tracking tools.

Here are the key features:

One-click time tracking

Easy-to-read reports

On-the-go support

Unlimited projects & clients

Colour codes for projects

Set billable rates

Offline tracking

How does it help you as a designer?

The tool helps generate invoices that you can share with your clients

You can organize your time-sheets by projects, clients or other unique tags

Grant permissions to edit & view time entries to those in specific roles (eg. client)

Includes a built-in messaging system for you & your teammates to enable better communication & easy sharing

Free Plan: Available for 14-Day period

Paid Package starts at: $10

Not available on mobile phones. Desktop only.

3) CloudTimr: This cloud application is completely free. If you’re looking for simple tracking & do not have a budget for a tracking tool, this serves the purpose well. Here are the features:

Track time from anywhere

Very easy dashboard

Statistics are presented beautifully

Desktop notifications available

How does it help you as a designer?

Uses hashtags to organize tasks, making it very handy to use & identify projects

Not available on mobile phones. Desktop only.

Free Plan: Available

Paid Package: None

4) TimeCamp: This application is great for solo designers or a team. It integrates well with Asana, Wunderlist and the like. If you’re willing to spend on this application, the premium service has some cool features:

Sets goals & categories

Measures productivity

Creates invoices

How does it help you as a designer?

Supports multi-currency to you can bill clients from all over the world

Tracks attendance of your team so you can see how many paid hours your team has logged

Available on: iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac OS X, Ubuntu

Free Plan: Available

Paid Package starts at: $6

5) Tick: Tick is one of the few time-tracking tools that actually has a time-budget ie. how much time you should be spending on a project, ensuring you meet your deadlines. It’s great if you’re working with a team. Here’s what’s so great about the product:

Running timers

Powerful reporting

On-the-go convenience

Integrates with the Apple watch

How does it help you as a designer?

It doesn’t just keep time but gives you feedback on how far on your project you are with constant reminders

You can set monetary or time budgets within projects to catch any problem areas

Connects with over 400 time-management tools like Basecamp & QuickBooks

Available on: iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac OS X

Free Plan: Available for 30-Day period

Paid Package starts at: $19

Try out these tools, save hours and make billing easy! If you’re got more ideas, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

About Amrita

Amrita is a marketing specialist by profession who loves writing, music and animals.